The H&R Budget Challenge will teach US kids aged 14 and up about real world financial skills as they compete to win scholarships & learn about money. Students need to understand financial skills but it is hard to teach these until students are out in the real world spending real money and making perhaps really lifechanging mistakes. That changes today.  Today the H&R Block Budget challenge is open for registration. This cool simulation combines real world scenarios in a powerful gamified environment where students and schools are competing for real prizes. (See the rules.) In this contest, students ages 14 up under the supervision of their teachers are given a pretend "salary" inside the simulation. They have bills to pay and things they need to do with their money. They are challenged to create a budget. As students go through the simulation they are met with real world "challenges:" the unexpected twists and turns that life itself throws at you. H&R Block is giving away $20,000 Scholarships: 132 of them! But this experience has a very real world impact. Leading classrooms will win classroom grants. But get this — H&R Block is awarding 132 (22 per simulation) $20,000 college scholarships! (The overall winner will receive a $100,000 college scholarship!) The Fun Game With a Serious Real World Impact Parents will appreciate the experience you are giving your students now — in just a few years these 14 year olds and older will be in the "real world" spending very real money. It is better to make mistakes and learn inside this game than to have extremely real consequences in a world where money is hard to come by. For this reason, I think this contest is life changing and can make every participant a winner whether they receive a scholarship or not. Learning to budget makes winners because money management is a struggle for so many. There are so many things that I love about this program. First of all, I love the gamification aspect of what is being done. While the scenarios are real world, the gaming aspects (as well as real world prizes) are going to make this something that many kids will enjoy. I also appreciate that they will send me curriculum materials to teach alongside the simulation. And yes, I just registered my own classes today. When does the challenge run? This will run throughout the school year with six simulation periods: one starting October 3 with the last one starting on February 13, 2015. It is for teachers in United States  public and private schools who teach students aged 14 and older. (See the rules for all the details.) How Do You Enter Your Classroom in the H&R Block Budget Challenge? Go to the H&R Block Budget Challenge Website: www.hrbds.org Read the guidelines to make sure your school fits the criteria Sign up your classroom! Can You Tell Me More? You can find all of the details on the official rules form, but here’s  the overview of the challenge: CHALLENGE OVERVIEW: The Sponsor is inviting Eligible Students to compete in a virtual budget Challenge against Eligible Students in their classroom and Eligible Students in schools throughout the country. Each Eligible Student will be presented with a virtual salary and will be tasked with building a budget, paying recurring bills and making decisions regarding real-world expenses such as rent, utilities, car payments and insurance. Throughout the Challenge, students will be thrown spontaneous real-life occurrences such as, but not limited to, a virtual car accident, lost cell phone or pay raise, and will be required to adjust their budget accordingly to deal with such unexpected situations. Eligible Students will also have the opportunity to complete quizzes on various personal finance topics such as interest and 401(k)’s to assist in their Challenge progress. By maximizing 401(k) savings, paying bills on time and responding correctly to quiz questions, while avoiding fees such as, but not limited to, virtual late fees, overdraft fees and finance charges, Eligible Students will increase their individual Challenge score and also increase their classrooms Challenge score average, which can be viewed on the Challenge Leaderboards (as outlined further below) So, get out there and take the challenge! Let’s have some fun and change our student’s financial future at the same time. Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a "sponsored post." The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to edit and post it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.) The post The H&R Block Budget Challenge: Giving Away Scholarships as Kids Learn Financial Literacy appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Get a costume box. Get some creativity. Do drama and learn! Here’s how. I have a costume box in my room and it is AWESOME. This time of year is THE TIME I add to it because of all of the Halloween costumery out there. (Mark your calendar for the day after the event — you’ll pick up lots of goodies for almost nothing.) Include dry erase boards as they can have anything drawn on them and become great props. Every time I get out the costume box the kids perk up and get excited so usually I try to have at least 2 lessons a month using this technique. When looking at the latest lessons I’ve used, there are two categories of how I use drama to teach: review and quick teaching of topics. Let’s talk about both drama in the classroom activities and give you an example of each. It is amazing how a costume box can immediately change the tone in your classroom. You can use this method without losing too much time! Drama in the Classroom Activities: Idea #1 REVIEW In my Computer Science class we were learning about how to do certain things: keep your computer safe, protect from viruses, etc. So, in this case, I wanted to review HOW to do certain things. I wanted the actions they need to take in their real lives to become real. The best way to reinforce their chapter reading, class discussions and other work we’ve done is to see this in action. This took the first 20 minutes of class if you include my short 2 minute review after each concept. Here’s the bell ringer: VIRUS AND COMPUTER SECURITY BELLRINGER Your group has 5 minutes to prepare a 1 minute skit on the following. You should dramatically depict the following. Please put the label of what someone is by sticking the word on their shirt (i.e. the firewall will have the word firewall on their shirt). The timer for 5 minutes will start when the bell rings. GO!! You will be graded on the following for a work ethic grade: Did you participate in the skit somehow? (10 points) Did your skit depict and explain the topic? (50 points) Did you use the essential terms and have at least 2 terms labeled on a person? (20 pts/ 10 pts per) Bonus: Creativity, humor, or artistic flair (5 points) Were you ready in the time required? (5 points) Did you pay attention to others as they presented? (10 points) Skit Topics You are going to do a brief 1 minute skit with your group depicting the following. Group A: How to keep your computer from being stolen (p O-18) Group B: How Viruses infect computers and how to keep safe from them. (p O-19) Group C: How to Keep Your Computer Safe From Intrusions (p O-20) Group D: How to Block Spyware and Pop Up Ads (p O-21) Group E: How to Avoid Email Scams (p O-23) Ways to Mix this Up You can use this for many types of procedures: How to tackle certain reading passages (you could have kids dramatize tips for each other by having one person play the struggler and even blow up the text onto a large poster.) In science you could have kids dramatize processes in a cell or how certain chemicals interact (have them tape the words on their chests — this is a MUST DO). In history, you could have brief moments in the life of a historical figure that you dramatize. In math it could be how to solve certain problems — but one kid could play "Mr x" and what he has to do complete the challenge and "solve" the mystery. (The equation.) There are so many ways to bring this in.  (Add your own in the comments!) One of my all time favorite methods is the "roving reporter" method. Try to use groups of 3 for this one. Once kids are trained, you can easily pull this one out to introduce new topics they can research quickly and share. Drama in the Classroom Activities: Idea #2 The Roving Reporter I love bringing current events into my classes — particularly Computer Science. Part of what I teach is helping kids understand what this new technology actually means to their lives and the real world. By using drama in this way, students are pushed to apply it to the real world and how it will actually be used. I do handpick the new technologies myself from those I find as I listen to my favorite technology podcasts and the blogs I read. In this case, there is a somewhat defined roleplay where there is a news anchor (at the desk — they will want a table and a coffee cup so just go ahead and get one or you’ll lose yours off your desk.) The news anchor tells the story and then hands off to a "roving reporter" (who just has to have a mike - just make one) who interviews an eyewitness. The news anchor is handed back to for a conclusion. Once you’ve trained students on this one, it works like a charm and is faster to do each time. Students have to get to the core of the story quickly. For me, this takes a bit longer because the topics take a good 20 minutes of research - yours may take far less. After each skit, students get pretty excited and want to talk for a moment - but to keep on track use a timer. Here’s a bellringer I’ve used: THE REAL NEWS!!! Today you are one of these three characters: A news anchor at a news desk reporting the story. A roving reporter who is on site doing an interview with an eyewitness An eyewitness who has seen this in action. Teams: Your job is to explain one of these technologies that is creating Buzz in silicon valley. Team A: Ultrasonic sound being used as part of mobile devices including mobile phones or Chromecast. Team B: Smartwatches and the Gear-S operating system Team C: Google Drones are now competing with the Amazon Delivery drone although neither is legal in the US yet. Team D: Apple has announcements this week, many think they will announce their own Phablet. Team E: The Mafia is using a hypersonic weapon to target the rich and have them pay a ransom for it to stop. What You’ll Do You will have 20 minutes to research this trend or topic and get the REAL story. Then, you will stage a dramatic news report with this outline. You may use props from the costume box. The Scenario Start off with the anchor at the news desk reporting on the facts. The anchor hands the news report off to the roving reporter who is on location. The roving reporter says what he/she sees and interviews an eyewitness. (If you have to have 4 on your team there will be 2 eyewitnesses) The roving reporter hands it back off to the news anchor who wraps up and then ends with… and now onto other news. You will be graded as follows: 15 points Did you participate? 15 points Did you explain the technology in an easy to understand way? (Anchor) 15 points Did you explain accurately what you’re seeing on site? (Roving reporter) 15 points Did you explain what a person would really see in this scenario? 40 points Did you have 4 points of explanation and use the BRIEF model. Note, that in this, I’ve taught them some concepts from the book Brief: Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less by Joseph McCormack. (He’s a former military intelligence officer tasked to help people be better communicators. AWESOME book on communication.) Ways to Mix This Up This lesson is great for things that can be observed: historical events, key actions in a novel, what a particular experiment looked like in large scale, a scientific discovery, a key mathematical discovery, and more. I do drama. While I don’t "do drama" with kids in terms of hysteria — this is one way I totally "do drama." Here are a few tips to make this even better for you and the students: Take a "class-ie" when you’re done. This is like a selfie but of a class. Make sure they leave words on their shirts (if you used them) and their costumes and get a quick picture. If you take the whole period, make sure that clean up happens - give yourself a good 7 minutes to finish up the event After clean up happens, give your own version of the Oscars. You can use paper plates and write on them things you want to recognize or get silly dollar store bling or even use stickers. This will get everyone cleaned up quickly and also let you reinforce the great things that you saw whether it was acting or key concepts. I have a little tiny silly trophy to give to the winning team with the best skit. You can also vote on people’s choice. When students become better at this, you may choose to film — but often I don’t just because it can shut down the learning and freedom you get. Again — make sure the kids help you CLEAN UP. Share costume boxes with other teachers and rotate to share expenses. If you have a stage area (some schools are building them) create a space for costumes and teach students classroom procedures for how to care for costumes and props. Ask parents for old costumes or cool stuff for your box. (But be ready to toss some things out.) In particular look for small, easy to use things like hats or old tacky ties. All of these items should be clean. This is one of many ways you can incorporate all types of learners into the classroom. I find that things we act out become far more memorable to students. Enjoy! I hope you do drama now too. If you have ideas, please share them in the comments so others can learn from you. I want to learn from you too!   The post Drama in the Classroom Activities: 2 Examples with Bellringers appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Note taking skills aren’t just automatic. We tell students "take notes" but they have no idea what that means. What makes "good notes." What do they write down? What should notes look like? Every since I went through the Writing Across the Curriculum Course at my school I realized the tremendous gap between "writing" as we’ve taught it traditionally and 21st century writing skills. That frustration threw me into research about how to teach writing in my classroom (all of that research was then put into my new book Reinventing Writing - just because I couldn’t find the book I needed when I was struggling with teaching writing in the digital age.) (Photo Credit: Wesley Fryer who has been teaching about visual notetaking for some time now.This graphic is from a 2013 workshop he did in Canada and drawn by two of the workshop participants, Tanya Avrith and Audrey McLaren. Thanks Wes for sharing these.) Now I have a new frustration that has me grappling with noteaking. I don’t just take my students into full blown digital notetaking as I discuss in Reinventing Writing. If they don’t have basic notetaking skills down in an analog way adding a new technology AND teaching how to take notes at the same time is too much. So, now, I’m taking the approach of helping students master analog notetaking. This is for several reasons the first is just to teach the analog notetaking skills they need but secondly, I’m full out an IN-FLIP classroom. When I’m teaching concepts on the computer or anything point and click, I always do it with videos embedded in our LMS - Haiku Learning. A note about In-Flip: The kids love it. The other day I took a poll and said — everyone go to the left side of the room who prefers that I teach this stuff from the board like I used to. Go to the right side of the room if you prefer the videos. The left side of the room had no one but the dust bunny and a cricket there. For more, listen to the discussion I had with Jon Bergmann at ISTE about it) I want to know what they are getting out of the videos and if they are pulling out the essential questions I’m giving them. Until I know that they understand how to pull out the important points, I’m checking their notes every single day. (And don’t for one second think that my class is all videos - we have LOTS of face to face interaction - just not for certain things.) So, here are some of the essential notetaking skills I’ve taught them so far. Cornell Notetaking System My favorite Cornell notetaking video is by Jennifer DesRochers. Students watch this one and set up their Cornell system on paper. I then have several lessons where students JUST using the Cornell system. I check to make sure they have summaries at the bottom of the notes, headings at the top, and that they are pulling essential points out. This method is THE SINGLE MOST important reason (besides studying myself blind) that I graduated first in my class from Georgia Tech. I couldn’t have processed the high volume of notes without it and it is an important method. If you don’t believe me, look at student notes. Many of them have no dates, no topic, no teacher class information at the top. We can do better. Visual Notetaking At this point it is likely that your students are just using words in their notes. We want them DRAWING. Why? So they can use all parts of their brain. Using symbols and notes and such can help connect ideas in powerful ways. So, at this point, I take my students on a visual notetaking journey. We leave Cornell except for the heading with the date, class, topic, and teacher’s name. Also, if you want to dig deeper, Wes Fryer’s blog post about Visual Notetaking is a Must Read. Step 1: Visual Notetaking Bellringer I have a bellringer that I use with this and will share snippets so you can adapt it. (I don’t want to put the full one here because the digital notes I used under fair use and you’ll need to find and paste your own into your bellringer.) The following are 3 sets of visual notes. As you look at these notes with your partners and look at these examples, fill in your answers to the questions on the back of this page. So, students are looking at 3 examples of visual notetaking. For full impact, find 3 examples of visual notes taken related to your subject (perhaps even the topic at hand.) These should be in color if possible. Have students discuss in their small groups and then discuss as a group. Questions to Ask As Students Look at Visual Notetaking Examples All three examples use a strategy called "visual notetaking" - looking at these examples (and what is shared in them) how would you define visual notetaking? What are some advantages of using visuals in your personal notetaking system? How could you use visual notetaking as part of the Cornell system you’ve already learned? What are some drawbacks of visual notetaking? Then, after we’ve discussed visual notetaking from observing samples, we’ll dive deeper. Step 2: Introduction to Visual Notetaking This first video I have students watch and take notes any way they want. I like this video because it is showing visual notetaking as it is talking about it. Again, stress to students you don’t have to be an incredible artist to make this work and not to get hung up on details. Step 3: How Can Visual Notetaking Be Used in Class? In this second video, I have students watch the video and take visual notes for the whole thing. They can stop the video but for only up to 1 minute. I don’t want them sidetracked or delayed. I also want them to see how visual notes can be used in a classroom setting. I liked Rachel Smith’s approach in this video. I follow up later with why we use visual notes and a little bit about the left brain being a center for logic and procedures and the right being a place for creativity and social intelligence. I also talk about how we all use all of our brain even though we have strengths but when we learn and use more of our brain it makes it easy to remember. Then, I have students using the Cornell system WITH visual notetaking. How I’m applying Visual Notetaking in my Own Life I’m now doing visual goalsetting — I take my goals and turn it into a one page graphic drawing that helps me picture who I am and who I want to be. I’m also visually noting the books I read on one page and putting that page in Evernote. That makes it more readable. When my students move to electronic notetaking and find that some tools (particularly on the ipad) have some of the visual notetaking tools built right in - they’re going to be excited. Other Concepts We Will Cover in Our Notetaking Journey Mindmapping Bullet Journaling Notetaking Cues for Live Lectures (See this article for what I mean) the Charting Method When students get into electronic notetaking I’ll teach them the PREPS system I share in Reinventing Writing. Analog Notetaking Mastery Before Going Digital So, while I will have this year’s students at the level of notetaking prowess and using the full blown PREPS system that I share in Reinventing Writing before Christmas, I’m just finding that I need to shore up the basics. If students know WHY they take notes (the reinforcement of writing down the words helps put a nudge to the brain that this is important - and for recall later) and HOW to take notes - they’ll be better able to become engineers of their own personal learning system. In the end, I want each students to have their own system of personal notetaking that is a combination of the best. I want them to be fluent on paper and electronically. But this is definitely a progression of skills and best taught in small bites integrated among the content that I’m teaching. So, we teach a new technique about every week and a half. What do you think should be included? So, while this is on my mind (and now on some of yours) will you take time to share the essential things you think should be taught in an analog way (on paper) before taking students into a full blown digital notebook? The post Note Taking Skills for 21st Century Students appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Our classrooms are full of ones. Not hundreds not hundreds of thousands - - not millions — but there are millions of ONEs. Each child is unique. Each child is an individual. So are you teachers! We don’t do all the things quite the same. I read a great quote from Beth Moore that represents teachers so well: You don’t have to see eye to eye to be glad to be side by side. Do you need some ideas for improvement? It fits.  I want to share with you some fast, easy ideas to make your classroom more excellent. For each of these ideas, I’m linking to a show that will help you learn more. Which show? Well, many of you may not know but I do a bi-weekly (and sometimes more) show on BAM Radio called "Every Classroom Matters" and I’m celebrating 100 episodes this week!!! The shows are a short 10 minutes. The focus is great education wherever it is happening: K12, highered, homeschool, virtual school, professional development. Learners of all ages in every country. Excellent teaching and trends - wherever they happen — are the focus (thus the name Every Classroom Matters.) I want you to be encouraged and hopeful! Let’s get some ideas from each other. Here are 15 ideas and shows (and videos) to go with them. 1. Let Your Students Make Apps Kennedy and her teacher Marsha Harris. Kennedy made an app to help other kids learn French and about France. Kennedy (a fifth grade student) and her teacher Marsha Harris, @marshamac74 did this at their school in Atlanta, GA using Crescerance. (I’m going to be doing this too at my school. We’ll start in October!) Listen to #ecmatters show #93 "Students and Teachers Experimenting with Creating Apps  2. Encourage Your School to Start Prototyping Scot Hoffman at the American School of Bombay in India is leading the school’s R&D department. How do you innovate when you’ve "always done it this way?" The American School of Bombay has a fascinating approach: have an R&D department. If you don’t know "R&D" stands for "Research and Development." Companies who spend money on R&D will be innovators in 3-5 years. The intentionally research and develop products for their company. This can apply to our classrooms too. Learn about ASB’s R&D department and some of the improvements that they’ve made with teachers. Apply this by experimenting and protyping teaching methods in your classroom. Listen to #ecmatters show #92 R&D: Identifying the Next Best Teaching Practices  3. Encourage your Special Needs Kids to Make Videos Two guests — one father and one award winning teacher — both found that videos are an excellent way to bring special needs kids into the larger classroom. Gary Dietz and John Lozano  John Lozano and His Student Michael Listen to #ecmatters show #73 with teacher John Lozano: Using How Do We Help Other Kids and Adults Understand Autism?   A Father Finds Videos Help His Son Give a Winning Report Father Gary Dietz shares some stories about working with his son in the classroom. Dads of special needs kids will particularly love his heartwarming book, Dads of Disability. (Read his post 5 practical lessons for elementary classroom inclusion about the impact that inclusion has on all kids in the classroom.) Listen to #ecmatters show #91 with father Gary Dietz (author of Dads of Disability) : Understanding the Anxieties Around Educating Special Needs Kids   4. Consider the In-Flip Model of Learning if the Flipped Classroom Isn’t Doable for You The flipped classroom isn’t doable for everyone — not all places have good Internet or computers at home for the kids. The in-flip model is one that every teacher can use. I love this model of teaching as I use Haiku Learning and prepare videos of the detailed work we’ll be doing. Learn more about how Flipped learning is moving forward and about the in-flip from Flipped Classroom pioneer Jon Bergmann. (Recorded at ISTE 2014.) Listen to #ecmatters show #90 with Jon Bergmann: Preparing Your Students for Flipped Learning  5. Join Some Global Collaborative Projects This Year Global collaboration is vitally important for every 21st century classroom. Whether you’re using Mystery Location calls or learning about rhinos in South Africa, this is something you can do.  Here are several ideas for you. (If you’ve read the book I coauthored Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds - you’ll know that I co-developed a model for how to integrate global collaboration into your classroom and still meet standards. I still believe this book is THE definitive guidebook for global collaboration in education - I haven’t read anything that comes close to the how-to. Yes, I’m biased. ;-)) Listen to #ecmatters show #89 with Toni Olivieri-Barton Getting Your Students Involved in Global Partnerships  My students have signed up again for the AIC Conflict Simulation run by Dr. Jeff Stanzler at the University of Michigan and we start next week. This awesome program teaches the Arab Israeli Conflict like nothing you’ve ever seen. Listen to #ecmatters show #74 with Dr. Jeff Stanzler How Simulation Games Can Teach Complex Subjects  Some challenges are hands on and use social media. This transformative project teaches about water poverty in a safe but powerful way. Listen to #ecmatters show #64 The 4 Liter Challenge: Teaching Students ABout Water Poverty  Karen Stadler from South Africa won ISTE’s Online Learning Award for this one. This is a great example of a project that a teacher has created that is making a difference. Listen to #ecmatters show #56 The Rhino Project: Teaching Social Consciousness. Students are connecting with Olympic Champions. Even if you don’t get in the program, the videos are free for all of us to use. They are a gold mine of grit, determination and powerful stories! Listen to #ecmatters with Steve Mesler and teacher Julieann Cappuccino about Classroom Champions: How Students are Learning Critical Skills from the Best in the World  6. Learn the Tricks and Hacks for Google Susan Oxnevad gives an awesome overview of 12 great tools to use with Google Drive. (If you’re into this, you might also want to read my 15 top Google Add-Ons) Listen to #ecmatters show #77 12 Great Ways to Use Google Drive  7. Consider Gamification and How You’re going to Gamify Your Classroom Cat Flippen (yes that is her very cool name) is researching games in the classroom and what they are (and are not). You’ll find yourself motivaed to use games with her work. Listen to #ecmatters show #86 Serious Games: Rethinking Gamification in Education   Watch this video that we recorded part of the Gamifi-ed OOC this past February with teacher Michael Matera who has gamified his entire history course. He has awesome ideas. Speaking of Gamifi-ed - this past school year some higher ed educators and I combined our classrooms to study games. (We’ll be at it again in February if you’re interested. Listen to #ecmatters show #51 Gamification: What Does it Take to Create Games that Actually Result in Learning with Verena Roberts, Dr. Lee Graham, and Colin Osterhout 8. Watch Videos of Best Practices and Share Them with Your PLC Bob Greenberg is using his retirement to travel the country and record videos with leading thought leaders. The Brainwaves YouTube channel is must watch and share. These resources are fantastic snippets to use and discuss in any group seeking to improve education. Hear the back story behind what he’s doing. (It will make you love Bob and his noble quest even more.) Sir Ken Robinson and Chris Dede are among his newest interviewees. This is a perfect example of learning to use the subscription feature in YouTube — so you can keep up with a channel like this! Listen to #ecmatters show #85 Capturing the Best Teaching Practices and Leaving a Legacy 9. Dress Up and Hook Students Elementary teacher Jeromie Heath has a costume closet! Great teachers remember that they are the most important asset they have in the classroom. When we dress up — kids take notice. (I also gave some clues into my own "Zombie Test Prep" example. Listen to #ecmatters show #84 Making Learning Fun: Engaging Students With Imagination  Dave Burgess and his book Teach Like a PIRATE: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator totally rocked my classroom when I read them during the summer of 2013. Every teacher should listen to this show and buy his book! Listen to #ecmatters show #20 Teach Like a Pirate: Grabbing and Keeping Your Student’s Attention with Dave Burgess 10. Encourage Students to Read a Renegade eBook Twenty something’s Seth and Chandler Bolt (one of them is a rock star - literally) have written  a fantastic ebook for teens: Breaking Out Of A Broken System. The back story and how they are using the proceeds to help those in poverty is even better. This is a refreshing look at success and education by two brothers breaking the rules and suceeding anyway. I loved it. Listen to #ecmatters show #83 Learning for Life Versus Learning for Grades, College or Career with Chandler Bolt 11. Make Sure Young Children Use Technology in Age Appropriate Ways Author Karen Nelson is a PreK teacher integrating technology. She uses so many ways to positively connect kids and keep balance. Listen to #ecmatters show #82 Generation C: When Very Young Children Are Connected to Technology  Karen didn’t know this but her work lines up with the research from Patti Wolman Summers’ book about using iPads with kids under 4.  Listen to #ecmatters Show #55: Toddlers on Technology: Touch Screens, Picking Apps for Young Kids and Setting Limits  These two listens would make great discussions for elementary age teachers in staff meetings and PD. 12. Make Sure Your Body Language is Positive Matthew Kohut, author of Compelling People: The Hidden Qualities That Make Us Influential, shares about body language and the subtle cues that can help you be a better educator. Plus, don’t miss the must-know body language tricks for speech coaches that you’ve probably never heard before! Listen to #ecmatters show with Matthew Kohut #81 Hidden Social Qualities of Effective Educators  13. Write in Powerful New Ways As those of you who read my blog know, I’m wildly intrigued by how writing is reinvented (thus my book Reinventing Writing). Linda Yollis is a classroom blogger-guru and has powerful ways for her students to connect. Listen to  #ecmatters show #49 Trial and Error: 3 Strategies for Building an Authentic Audience for Your Student’s Work with Linda Yollis First grade teacher and award winner Karen Lirenman uses Twitter in her classroom. You can do this too! Listen to #ecmatters show #10 Savvy Use of Edtech in Early Ed Classrooms with Karen Lirenman Annice Brave, 2012 Illinois Teacher of the Year uses Google Docs to co-plan with her fellow teacher Jeff Hudson. She also talks about journalism and AP Scores. Listen to #ecmatters show #27 Reinventing Your Classroom  14. How to Have Great Test Scores and Focus on Learning Superintendent Pam Moran has an epic interview where she shares the philosophy that has led her district to test less and score better. This is a must listen and share share with your superintendents and principals who say it can’t be done. Listen to #ecmatters show #69 The Proper Role of Testing with Pam Moran 15 - Find Your Own Passion I wish I had time to list every single show but it is now 7:05 and if I don’t get dressed, I’ll be late for school. As of this moment there are 100 show episodes listed on the Every Classroom Matters page! Look at the page and find one that interests you and what you’re trying to do right now. Shine the Light on Great Teaching Everywhere This show is my own effort to shine a light upon everyday educators. Every day educators are AMAZING. Let’s celebrate teaching and learning wherever it is. I hope these short 10 minute shows help you get energized and excited about all the things you can do in your classroom. And remember. Every Classroom Matters — YOUR classroom matters. Level up a little every day. The post 15+ Teaching Ideas to Get You Excited About Teaching appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

With only 1 in 10 schools offering coding in the USA, Josh Gauthier is one teacher using coding to engage students in learning. He finds learning how to new things in order to engage students is worth the time and money invested. Listen to Josh Gauthier discuss creating apps with students Add Josh Gauthier to your PLN @mrgfactoftheday Mr. Gauthier’s Tech Chats Josh Gauthier - Show #75 - Project Based Learning with a Purpose Josh Gauthier is a fourth year teacher in Wisconsin, who just moved to teaching at the local high school. Totally amazed at what his students would take on when given the chance, he watched in awe as his students learned  to create apps, using XCode and other languages. Listen to #ecmatters show #75 Note: Show #93 was another Every Classroom Matters show about students creating apps with a fifth grader who created a french language app. Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly podcast by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network. Listening will help you teach with better results, lead with a positive impact, and live with a greater purpose. Subscribe. Need help listening to the show? If you’re clicking "Play" on the BAM Radio Site, this often works best in Internet Explorer. Or subscribe in a podcatcher. To get help use this tutorial. Show notes prepared by Lisa Durff, Production Coordinator for Every Classroom Matters. The post Project Based Learning with a Purpose with @mrgfactoftheday appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Building authentic audience is an essential technique for 21st century teachers. Linda Yollis, a 27 year elementary teacher shares with us how she uses social media in the classroom.  Using their class blog and teacher’s social media connections, Linda’s students write for the world. Let’s learn as Linda Yollis @lindayollis, classroom blogging extraordinaire, shares how she engages her students using blogging. Listen to Linda Yollis - Every Classroom Matters Show #49  Listen on iTunes: Trial and Error episode Add @lindayollis to your PLN: Mrs. Yollis’ Classroom Blog Linda Yollis - Show #49 - Trial and Error: 3 Strategies for Building an Authentic Audience for Your Student’s Work Linda Yollis, 3rd grade teacher, finds using social media with students can be incorporated into many content areas. Teaching with Twitter In one instance, she posted out a question on Twitter asking what the weather was like for other people. She and her students received many responses from around the world, incorporating geography, math, English, reading, science all into the answers. Classroom Blogging Linda is excited about learning and finds this is contagious and has spread to her students. She does incorporate digital safety along with teaching subjects like coding, which she learns right along with her students. Their blog is a classroom activity to which the students contribute. Students write posts, comments, add code, and pictures of the day. About Linda Yollis: Linda is an award winning teacher, having won the several Edublogger Awards, earned the Google Certified Teacher designation, and Digital Voice Awards. Her class blog is nominated for a Bammy Award this year and she keynoted last year at San Luis Obispo County Computer Using Educator’s conference. Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly radio show by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network with best practices for busy teachers. Subscribe. Need help listening to the show? If you’re clicking "Play" on the BAM Radio Site, this often works best in Internet Explorer. Or subscribe in a podcatcher. To get help use this tutorial. Show notes prepared by Lisa Durff, Production Coordinator for Every Classroom Matters. The post 3 Strategies for Building an Authentic Audience for Your Student’s Work appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

"I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging and it’s very difficult to find anyone," said Gandalf the wizard. Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit replies: "I should think so — in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!" 1. Are We Reading or Are We Starving Bakers? With these words echoing in my mind yesterday- the youngest person I know — our 86 year old learning lab director Mrs. Grace Adkins says: "The problem with most teachers is we are starving bakers. We bake up learning for everyone else and we don’t take time to read and learn anything ourselves." It is so easy to get into those habits and routines that are ours as teachers — grade the folders & hand them back, mark attendance & take the lunch count, serve lunch duty & trudge back to your room, tutor kids after school & go home later than you planned, struggle to cook dinner & leave the dishes in the sink, sit down to watch a little tv & wake up on the couch in the middle of the night, alarm clock goes off & get dressed, and do over. When do we read? When do we learn? Have we had the excitement of reading something new and discussing it or trying it with our students in the classroom? Have we read something that ROCKED OUR WORLD lately? Leaders are readers. When we refuse to learn, we should hand in our leader learner card because we are hypocrites. Let me ask you this — if your mind was fed by books would it be starving or stuffed full? 2. Do We Still Have Adventure in Our Lives? In the movie The Hobbit, Gandalf goes on to say to Bilbo: "You’ve been sitting quietly for far too long. Tell me, when did doilies and your mother’s dishes become so important to you? I remember a young hobbit who always was running off in search of elves and the woods, who would stay out late, and come home after dark, trailing mud and twigs and fireflies. A young hobbit who would have liked nothing better than to find out what was beyond the borders of the Shire. The world is not in your books and maps; it’s out there." Books aren’t enough, though. Adventures get our endorphins flowing — they stimulate our mind. They enrich us. What happened to that sense of adventure you used to have? When you actually tried new restaurants? When you took time to spend with new people? When you walked a different route as you worked out? Adventure doesn’t cost anything (although zip lining is pretty crazy awesome!) This past Saturday I went to visit Mom and Dad as usual. My sister found and quite literally saved four puppies who had been abandoned on the dirt road a few months back. Well, now these puppies are in the crazy growing stage where they are half idiot and the other half cute. We walked them to the catfish pond and watched as they took flying leaps onto each other’s heads as they tried to eat the catfish food and the fish. I practiced my speech for this upcoming Saturday at the BAMMYs (an 3iTalk). It was a hilarious adventure and it didn’t cost a dime. My sister and I laughed at the puppies swimming with the catfish as I practiced my speech for the BAMMYs next Saturday. It was awesome. You’ve got tennis rackets, paint brushes, skates, skiis, fishing poles, and all matter of adventure items in your closet. Hey, you even have walking shoes in there. You’ve got awesome music you haven’t listened to in years on that Smartphone and a pair of earbuds lonely for your ear canals wrapped up in your pocketbook or drawer. You’ve got free easy adventures ready to go. If your home, classroom, and school events are your Shire — how often do you venture out to have a real adventure? Have you been sitting quietly far too long? Your soul is made for adventure - if you’re feeling blah it might be because you’ve forgotten that! 3. Do You Make Time to Wonder? Austin Kleon in his book Show Your Work! makes an awesome point about having a Wonderbox. In the drawing below (since I’m really into visual notetaking now - I’m making it a habit of drawing my notes for the best books I read) you can see my pitifully scribbled notes on the concept of the "Wunderkammern" or "wonderbox." Kleon says we should all have things that spark our interest and creativity. For me, I’m including treasured collections of: heroes stories movies music books art plants shells blogs (my RSS reader — I’m talking blogs that just rip my head off wow me of all kinds of genres.) jewelry mentors (people I go to for inspiration/ advice) dreams my Bible and favorite verses certain apps   The visual notes I took on the section of Austin Kleon’s book "Show Your Work" where he discusses the concept of the "Wunderkammern" or treasured collections of things that inspire you. How do you collect wonder? On my smartphone I have a playlist called "WonderBox" - it is an eclectic mix of my favorite music. On my bookshelf I have a "wondershelf" that inspires me with wonderful thoughts. I can always find things on my wondershelf to get me excited. I have a "wondershelf" in my Makerbot Thingiverse account (for my 3D printer) things that make me wonder and be curious. I have a "wondershelf" of wonderful quotes and verses written on index cards that I’ve put on a ring and flip through in my office. Some are painted on signs or on things that I’ve used to decorate my house. The mantle in my den has things I’ve collected from around the world that make me wonder. I have a collection of magnets from the places I’ve been over my stove — I ponder the people, faces, and places and wonder about things I saw. You get the point. Intentionally create spaces and places that fill you with wonder and make you feel alive.  Do you have a sense of wonder? Do You Live Large? There’s a verse in the Bible that talks about living life abundantly — to the full. That is what I want for my own life. Not stuffed full of STUFF but intentional things that have meaning. Serving others is part of that, for sure. But part of living large for me is the books I read, the adventures I have, and the things I wonder about. It is easy to stay comfortable — like Bilbo Baggins. "It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations if you live near him," says Gandalf. And there is a live dragon. There are live dragons of all sorts in our lives. In this case, that live dragon is the complacency and unwillingness to change that will ultimately cause boredom. While you can have great comfort in routine - there can be great adventure in sometimes breaking that routine. While it might be easier to tune into your TV set than to turn on your Kindle - great joy comes from great books. While it might be easier to have a hodge podge collection of things — a real sense of wonder emerges as you create WonderBoxes of spaces and things that fill you with wonder. As you look at your school — what kind of people live in these parts? Those interested in adventure or those content to keep the routine of the Shire? But as for you — are you one people can call on for adventure? It spills over into your classroom in subtle ways, you know? That sense of wonder, learning and adventure is felt and inhaled by every single student who crosses your threshold. You cannot lead them on their own adventure if you’re not willing to go there yourself. So, my friends — no starving bakers, no Shire-stuck people wandering through our days like zombies. Here’s to living large and the kinds of classrooms we create when we reach out and do that! QuestionHow do you live large? What are the things you do to break out of your routine? You can leave a comment by clicking here.   References JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit Movie: The Hobbit - Directed by Peter Jackson Austin Kleon Show Your Work!   The post 3 Essential Keys to Living Large appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Car crashes have been the number one killer of our teenagers for more than 30 years. With cell phones, distracted driving is causing even more deaths! Join #celebratemydrive to promote driving safety and win GRANTS (they are giving ten (10) - $100,000 grants AND ninety (90) - $25,000 grants!). Register Your School Now!  Join the State Farm 2014 Celebrate My Drive Program by registering your school by October 7. After October 7 you will have your students and parents take online safe driving pledges as they learn more about driving safely. What can you win? As you can see in the video above, 2 schools (one larger school and one smaller school) will win a concert from the band Perry. They are also giving away: 90 grants of $25,000 each 10 grants of $100,000 each This is a great cause and can help your school when times are tough. But talk about tough times, nothing is as bad as the death of a student for a senseless auto accident (or the death of a student at all.) Click here to register now. Who can participate? Public, private or charter schools in the USA (except NH)  and some provinces of Canada. See the official rules to make sure you qualify.   Only registered high schools can win prizes. You have until October 7 to register your school! Step 1: Register your school (by October 7) Ask a school administrator to register your school for "Celebrate My Drive" at www.celebratemydrive.com. You must register by October 7 so your parents and students can participate! (See Step 2 for what you do AFTER October 7) In case you think your school is too small, there are two categories of participation: schools with more than 750 students and those with less than 750. Click here to register now. Step 2: Encourage Your Students & Parents to Commit to Safe Driving (October 15-24) Between October 15 and October 24, parents and students aged 14 and up can sign a safe driving commitment at www.celebratemydrive.com .  Those with the most commitments during the period WIN.  Use the school toolkit with flyers, press releases, and daily announcements already written for you. (The registration toolkit rocks.) The one week between October 7 and October 15 gives you time to get the word out so plan your school announcements accordingly!   Teach kids to keep 2 eyes on the road and 2 hands on the wheel and save lives! As much as we love technology, we MUST help kids learn to pay attention and drive safely. As part of the campaign, State Farm is promoting 2N2® — 2 eyes on the road, 2 hands on the wheel. When Kids Are Safe Drivers We All Win We have a bench on our campus of a precious child who died many years a go in such a senseless accident. Your school probably has automobile accident tragedies too. Whatever comes out of this, if you can have students focus on driving and keep 2 eyes on the road and 2 hands on the wheel - THAT IS AN AWESOME THING. So… why not? Save a life. BIG WIN. Get money - not as big a win as saving the life of a child but still a WIN. Find Out More About the Celebrate My Drive Challenge Read the Celebrate My Drive Rules Prevent teen car crashes and win grants for your school by participating in Celebrate My Drive. You need to register before October 7, 2014. Only registered high schools can win prizes!   Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a "sponsored post." The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to edit and post it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.) The post Win Grants and Promote Safe Driving with #CelebrateMyDrive appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

High school history has a tremendous obstacle to learning — getting students enthusiastic about reading difficult texts. When I teach World History to my 9th graders, I have come up with a list of 6 common challenges I face when trying teach reading comprehension. Here’s a glimpse into how I meet these 6 challenges and help my students win! Note from Vicki Davis: When I find great products, I see if there is a fantastic teacher who is using the product every day to write the post. Actively Learn has a free version anyone can use. This is a sponsored post by Actively Learn and authored by MJ Linane, 9th grade World History teacher in Mattapoisett, MA. MJ is teaching those tough history texts in high school as he works to align with Common Core reading standards. I like this product because you can use most of these features for free. (Sign up for Actively Learn.) — Vicki Davis 1. Did the student read the text? Sometimes I don’t know until my students walk in the door if students have read their assignment. The reality is: some will and some won’t.Some teachers feel that it is unfair for them to be held accountable to Common Core or state standards of instruction if the students do not even read the text that can help them improve. Assigning reading questions is one solution but that leads to another problem. 2. Does the student comprehend what they read? The typical way  that I handle reading comprehension is by assigning reading questions. These are either found at the bottom of the reading selection or on a different answer sheet.  The questions I assign often follow similar themes. I want student answers to show me: Did the student comprehend what they are reading? Did they look up the words they couldn’t figure out? Did they understand what is significant in the story? When I assign these readings for homework, I ask myself, is the student simply copying the answers from another student? If a student says that they don’t understand what they read, were they just skimming the reading? In order to help students, I need to know where they skimmed and where they truly struggle. If I want to really help students improve, I must answer this next challenge with a solution. We can identify specific places where students struggle. We can also embed questions in the text (where they should be instead of at the end of a chapter.) 3. Where does the student struggle with the reading? Research says that ⅔ of students are struggling readers; they cannot correctly identify the main idea when they read. Students need to be able to decode and comprehend what they are reading. As students read, two issues besides knowing how to identify the main idea  continually cause students to struggle: the difficult language in historical texts poor question design in the book I can’t change the texts but I can change the way I design my questions. Where do we ask students to demonstrate their understanding? To make the reading a "big picture", teachers will commonly put questions at the end of the reading. Most of the questions in my textbook are at the end of the reading or on a separate page. Once again, research shows that this is absolutely the worst place to put the questions. Students are "passively" reading, instead of being actively engaged. This is complicated with traditional paper/pencil because paragraph or sentence specific questions break up the page and can interfere with students understanding the reading’s "big picture". To help students, we have to improve not only the questions but WHERE They are placed in the text. (Yes, there is a solution to this problem.) Actively Learn is a powerful tool that aligns individual student responses with whether they are meeting standards.  4. How can I give meaningful feedback to students to encourage and help them improve? It is hard to tell if a student is struggling when using traditional worksheets/questions. It is even more difficult to give quick feedback on student comprehension. The alternative is to give low-tech, highly efficient verbal feedback during a class discussion. This method also has its problems as well. Students have to be willing to ask a question publicly or approach the teacher privately. For me, the trouble is that I am one in a class of 30 and I can only help an individual or small groups of students at once. Surely, there are students I am missing but I am limited by traditional approaches. To truly understand what a student comprehends, there needs to be an individual  conversation about the document. Yet, it is nearly impossible to provide that to a class of 30 students. Even small group or think-pair-share leads to a scenario where the grouped students might be discussing the wrong interpretation of the document. If I am faced with multiple groups misinterpreting the document, then I have a possible problem with differentiated instruction. Again, there has to be a better way than these traditional means that we teachers have used for decades. 5. How can you get meaningful data on where to help your whole class? A couple of years ago I gave a test on 20th century imperialism and it seemed that a lot of students struggled with questions that dealt with analyzing  primary sources. It took me well over an hour but I went through each test, question by question, and put all the question data together myself. (This was before the widespread use of online questions). My efforts were time consuming and revealed very little. Immediate, actionable data has only become more important given today’s pressures to improve student’s reading comprehension scores. In addition to finding these sources, designing questions and meaningful lessons around them, we now have to become statisticians? Where can teachers find the time? Yet, we need individual and collective class data to appropriately help those struggling students. 6. How do I align all of this with standards? Even after confronting all these questions every time we assign meaningful readings our job is not complete. We then have to validate that the assignment is aligned with the proper standards. This step could take some time depending on how familiar you are with your relevant standards. For me, it takes an additional 10+ minutes to make sure my readings are inline with my state standards for teaching history and the Common Core ELA standards for history. This should probably be the step I start with but it has the least impact on my students and therefore usually is a neglected until the very end. I would spend more time in considering the standards first if I could align them quickly so I can get right to question design. OK. So now, how do we meet these challenges and teach nonfiction text, put questions in the text, improve the questions, personalize learning AND align with standards? Let me show you the approach I use in my classroom with Actively Learn. You can use this for free but I’ll explain the difference between the free and premium version. Actively Learn works on multiple platforms. I use it to coach students to improve their reading comprehension of nonfiction texts. Review of Actively Learn: A Free Way to Improve Comprehension of Non-Fiction Texts Student Reading Assignments: Common Challenges. You have just asked the students to complete a reading assignment. It is a short story, or a primary source, or a poem, a nutrition guide, a website about biological cell structures. In truth, it doesn’t matter what the style is, the same student skill set is required for all of those. How Actively Learn Helps Me Meet the Challenges of Tough Non Fiction Text Actively Learn is a digital reading platform that provides educators with new tools to get every student reading closely. Teachers need to know exactly what students can comprehend and where they struggle. In a classroom of students it can be difficult to personalize every reading assignment. Actively Learn gives teachers a solution to that challenge. How It Works: Teachers can select any digital source and create a personalized reading experience for all students. Each teacher has a "My Workspace" to keep their digital readings and the associated questions. Teachers can then start putting together their collections from three sources. Readings can come from: Selecting a text from the Actively Learn Catalogue An article from the Internet A PDF A Google Document My actively learn workspace of documents. PDF’s, websites, and other text can be pulled into the app. I tested all three methods and found the process very intuitive and easy to navigate. All of the reading assignments and questions can then be Common Core aligned. Also, in case teachers are stuck on what questions to create, the Catalogue offers questions that other teachers have created for the readings.   What Actively Learn Does: Once the reading is ready teachers assign it to their classes and students can begin to interact with it. Teachers will have already entered in notes, videos, and/or questions directly into the text so students will have to address those questions/extensions exactly where teachers want them to. In my traditional class, readings require students to go from the reading to the answer sheet, trying to match content to questions. It is a process that dulls the experience and breaks the flow of reading. Actively Learn allows teachers to focus on text that needs further explaining or extension. This is done in real-time and class-wide. It is hard to tell if a student is struggling when using traditional worksheets/texts. Students have to be willing to ask a question publicly or approach the teacher privately. For me, the trouble is that I am one in a class of 30 and I can only help an individual or small groups of students at once. Surely, there are students I am missing but I am limited by traditional approaches. With Actively Learn, if a student encounters difficult vocabulary, there is an online dictionary able to help them. They can also ask questions and share ideas with the class directly in the text itself. Teachers can grade student responses right in the text. So once students are completed teachers can look at the class summary  data. Actively Learn allows for both individual student comprehension stats but also class-wide Common Core strand progress. It is helpful to see which skills need improvement class-wide. What’s missing? Actively Learn is essentially a "Freemium" service so there are some features that are behind a paywall. Currently a school/district has to pay for a shared curriculum library and student diagnostic reports. Also, there are user options that have yet to be included. For instance, there is currently no way to rename a reading title once created. Also, when students are commenting on a reading assignment, the other students can see the comments in real-time. This is a double-edged sword because while it allows for awesome collaboration, it also might allow struggling readers the chance to mimic other students, masking their true comprehension. The student data reports are a good feature but remember that  long-term individual student tracking is a premium feature.  It is a great start, but if you try it out and it works for you, you’ll want to consider the premium version to track improvement. Do you need this? If your students read, then yes! What about those among us who have tools that deal with reading already? When I originally came across Actively Learn, I couldn’t help but compare it to tools I already use. My school uses Google Apps for Education and I kept on questioning why would I need this if I have Google Drive? They serve two different purposes. Google is for writing and  although students can collaborate on Google Drive, it doesn’t work best for tracking students for reading skills. Actively Learn is a new platform offering new tools. It is worth checking out! MJ Linane is a High School history teacher and educational blogger. MJ is interested in education technology and its impact on student learning. He can be found at his website and blog, TeacherRevolutions.com Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a "sponsored post." The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to edit and post it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.) The post 6 Reading Comprehension Problems and What to Do About Them appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

How can higher-ed and high school students interact in online spaces and both learn? Dr. Jeff Stanzler uses simulations to engage high school and college students in a powerful study of geo-politics. Dr. Stanzler has seen students develop empathy for the very real people who are embroiled in geo-political conflicts around the world. Host Vicki Davis’ students participate in his Arab-Israeli Conflict Simulations every September - December. Let’s learn more about how simulations work. Listen to Jeff Stanzler - Every Classroom Matters Show #74  Add Jeff Stanzler to your PLN @stanzj Interactive Communications & Simulations at The University of Michigan-Flint and Ann Arbor Jeff Stanzler - Show Notes #74 - How Simulation Games Can Teach Complex Subjects Jeff Stanzler, a faculty member at the University Of Michigan School Of Education, advocates using games and simulations to engage learners in geo-political content.  He teaches about the Arab-Israeli conflict using simulations to stretch students’ minds. High School classrooms form country teams and represent diplomats while at the same time college students are involved in the simulation from a pedagogical perspective. Both high school and college students focus on the political issues, use text for the simulations, and meet online at a webspace. Dr. Stanzler directs the Interactive Communications and Simulations (ICS) group, while teaching in the teacher education department emphasizing learning technologies. He is also on the faculty of the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies and the Michigan Community Scholars Program. He does find a using a game is a good way to teach about this complex political conflict, cultivating citizens with geo-political empathy. He finds the collaborations between high school students and college students especially valuable for learning. Listen on iTunes Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly radio show by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network with best practices for busy teachers.  Subscribe. Show notes prepared by Lisa Durff, Production Coordinator for Every Classroom Matters. Need help listening to the show? If you’re clicking "Play" on the BAM Radio Site, this often works best in Internet explorer. Or subscribe in a podcatcher. If you need help, use this tutorial. The post How Simulation Games Can Teach Complex Subjects appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.